PHYS261 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Matt Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/09/2024	Hated this useless class but easy A. Final was nothing like the practice.
Andris Skuja PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2023	Never met him, but the lab isn't too bad. You got in for two hours and just fill out an Excel sheet, as long as you have an okay TA you'll do fine on the labs. There's not even an actual lab report or anything, the only thing you have to do outside of lab is the pre-lab questions which are super easy and just from the lab manual. The final was kinda rough, he said it'd be similar to the study guide from the lab manual but it really wasn't.
Andris Skuja PHYS261 Anonymous 10/21/2023	Neutral review: You won't really get to meet him so I can't give a one or 5 star review. My TA was pretty awesome though!
Matt Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2022	I had him for the lab period, but pretty much no one actually interacted in person since the TAs run the labs. I give this 5-star review because one, the lab was well run and my lab partner and I always finished within a reasonable time frame and the excel sheets were very well made. And two, someone posted a profanity-ridden ELMs post about the review HW having deductions (it was actually worth no points), and the professor responded with a brief explanation of the no points thing and ended it with "lol" full stop. Giga chad move IMO, A++ professor.
Matt Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2022	Never seen him in my life but my TA was the best. The class is taught completely by TA's, so it can be a hit or miss depending on your TA.
Matt Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/01/2022	I never actually met him, since this was just the lab section of Physics 260, but the labs were alright. Not too hard, but nitpicky with the grading. I liked that the final exam was online. Don't worry.
Matt Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A florm 12/18/2021	Severson did a really solid job setting up 261. Every lab is done entirely through Excel and LoggerPro, with instructions on Expert TA. Prelabs are also on Expert TA, and you do get penalized for incorrect attempts. He gives you an Excel template for each lab which is very straightforward, there's just a lot of copying and pasting and typing out complex formulas, but nothing challenging. The instructions for each lab are easy to follow so there's no issue getting out early. After the first 5 labs, there's a makeup week for anyone who missed one of those labs, but if you didn't miss any you get the week off. There's another makeup week after labs 6-9, too. After that, the next week is a review for the final, and the week after that is the final, which takes place before the usual finals week. The final is not bad at all, and he gives you a bunch of practice questions (though not the answers to them), a couple of which were on the actual exam. The final was originally going to be in person, but he moved it online and mentioned that he'll probably keep it online in the future. One thing to note about 261, though, is that it may be the physics 2 lab, but the majority of the labs are on physics 1 concepts, like momentum, centripetal motion, and pendulums. Only the last two labs were on physics 2 concepts, waves and the ideal gas law.
Matthew Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/27/2021	You never actually see Severson, but he posts some hilarious announcements and makes the course very clear. The labs are pretty much filling out Excel sheets and its very hard to do poor.
Matthew Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/05/2020	the lab isnt bad. you legit never see severson tho. Its a pretty easy lab not gonna lie
Matthew Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A+ StardustGogeta 06/09/2019	This lab is strange because it seems like it should be a corequisite for physics 1, not physics 2. Since almost everything was review, it was very easy, and it was possible to finish each lab at least an hour ahead of time. (Note that Severson was never there in-person, only the TAs.)
Frederick Wellstood PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2011	This is a review for Phys261 Lab Note: My grade in lab was an A, but because I got a C in 260, I got a C in lab unfortunately. Anyways, this class is taught by your TA, and I had Ryan Maunu. He was great! He had notes to help us and always checked our work. He would try to give you hints to get you in the right direction. This was my first lab course, and it wasn't difficult if you came prepared. Met only every other week.
Min Ouyang PHYS261 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/01/2011	It really depends on who you get for your ta. My ta was not at all useful, didn't answer questions and explained things poorly. But he curved well. Use what you learn from the first lab (error propagation) and use it for all the other labs (for error calculations).
Min Ouyang PHYS261 Expecting a B atloud 12/19/2010	Lab is very tedious and boring. Too much error analysis and not enough seeing actual applications of real world problems. The class depends on your TA.
Min Ouyang PHYS261 Expecting an A vnsach 11/02/2010	The difficulty of this class really depends on your TA. My TA explained everything about the lab and answered any questions which arose. Once again, this class really depends on your TA.
Min Ouyang PHYS261 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/18/2010	This lab is pretty decent. Once you get the experiment going, it's pretty easy to see how the concepts from 260 apply, so it is beneficial in terms of providing a real-world example. However, the technicalities of the course can be confusing--how to use the random equipment they have set up each week, how to enter difficult formulas into the excel spreadsheets, how to calculate errors, etc. Overall, not that bad, but the explanations need to be a bit clearer on some things.

Matt Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/09/2024

Hated this useless class but easy A. Final was nothing like the practice.

Andris Skuja
PHYS261

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2023

Never met him, but the lab isn't too bad. You got in for two hours and just fill out an Excel sheet, as long as you have an okay TA you'll do fine on the labs. There's not even an actual lab report or anything, the only thing you have to do outside of lab is the pre-lab questions which are super easy and just from the lab manual. The final was kinda rough, he said it'd be similar to the study guide from the lab manual but it really wasn't.

Andris Skuja
PHYS261

Anonymous
10/21/2023

Neutral review: You won't really get to meet him so I can't give a one or 5 star review. My TA was pretty awesome though!

Matt Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2022

I had him for the lab period, but pretty much no one actually interacted in person since the TAs run the labs. I give this 5-star review because one, the lab was well run and my lab partner and I always finished within a reasonable time frame and the excel sheets were very well made. And two, someone posted a profanity-ridden ELMs post about the review HW having deductions (it was actually worth no points), and the professor responded with a brief explanation of the no points thing and ended it with "lol" full stop. Giga chad move IMO, A++ professor.

Matt Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2022

Never seen him in my life but my TA was the best. The class is taught completely by TA's, so it can be a hit or miss depending on your TA.

Matt Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/01/2022

I never actually met him, since this was just the lab section of Physics 260, but the labs were alright. Not too hard, but nitpicky with the grading. I liked that the final exam was online. Don't worry.

Matt Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A
florm
12/18/2021

Severson did a really solid job setting up 261. Every lab is done entirely through Excel and LoggerPro, with instructions on Expert TA. Prelabs are also on Expert TA, and you do get penalized for incorrect attempts. He gives you an Excel template for each lab which is very straightforward, there's just a lot of copying and pasting and typing out complex formulas, but nothing challenging. The instructions for each lab are easy to follow so there's no issue getting out early. After the first 5 labs, there's a makeup week for anyone who missed one of those labs, but if you didn't miss any you get the week off. There's another makeup week after labs 6-9, too. After that, the next week is a review for the final, and the week after that is the final, which takes place before the usual finals week. The final is not bad at all, and he gives you a bunch of practice questions (though not the answers to them), a couple of which were on the actual exam. The final was originally going to be in person, but he moved it online and mentioned that he'll probably keep it online in the future. One thing to note about 261, though, is that it may be the physics 2 lab, but the majority of the labs are on physics 1 concepts, like momentum, centripetal motion, and pendulums. Only the last two labs were on physics 2 concepts, waves and the ideal gas law.

Matthew Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/27/2021

You never actually see Severson, but he posts some hilarious announcements and makes the course very clear. The labs are pretty much filling out Excel sheets and its very hard to do poor.

Matthew Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/05/2020

the lab isnt bad. you legit never see severson tho. Its a pretty easy lab not gonna lie

Matthew Severson
PHYS261

Expecting an A+
StardustGogeta
06/09/2019

This lab is strange because it seems like it should be a corequisite for physics 1, not physics 2. Since almost everything was review, it was very easy, and it was possible to finish each lab at least an hour ahead of time. (Note that Severson was never there in-person, only the TAs.)

Frederick Wellstood
PHYS261

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/25/2011

*This is a review for Phys261 Lab* Note: My grade in lab was an A, but because I got a C in 260, I got a C in lab unfortunately. Anyways, this class is taught by your TA, and I had Ryan Maunu. He was great! He had notes to help us and always checked our work. He would try to give you hints to get you in the right direction. This was my first lab course, and it wasn't difficult if you came prepared. Met only every other week.

Min Ouyang
PHYS261

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/01/2011

It really depends on who you get for your ta. My ta was not at all useful, didn't answer questions and explained things poorly. But he curved well. Use what you learn from the first lab (error propagation) and use it for all the other labs (for error calculations).

Min Ouyang
PHYS261

Expecting a B
atloud
12/19/2010

Lab is very tedious and boring. Too much error analysis and not enough seeing actual applications of real world problems. The class depends on your TA.

Min Ouyang
PHYS261

Expecting an A
vnsach
11/02/2010

The difficulty of this class really depends on your TA. My TA explained everything about the lab and answered any questions which arose. Once again, this class really depends on your TA.

Min Ouyang
PHYS261

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/18/2010

This lab is pretty decent. Once you get the experiment going, it's pretty easy to see how the concepts from 260 apply, so it is beneficial in terms of providing a real-world example. However, the technicalities of the course can be confusing--how to use the random equipment they have set up each week, how to enter difficult formulas into the excel spreadsheets, how to calculate errors, etc. Overall, not that bad, but the explanations need to be a bit clearer on some things.

Reviews for PHYS261